List of national languages of India
India has a diverse list of spoken
languages among different groups of people. At least 800 different languages and around 2000
dialects have been identified. The
Constitution of India has stipulated the usage of
Hindi and
English to be the two languages of communication for the Central (Federal) government. The state governments use their own language along with English for communication with the Central government. For example, the central government sends its information in Hindi and English to the state of Tamil Nadu and this state communicates back in Tamil and English. India has a list of 23
official languages (including Hindi and English). These languages are entitled to representation on the
Official Language Commission, and a candidate in an examination conducted for national government service may opt to take the exam in any of these languages. Neither the constitution nor the laws of India accord the status of "National Language" to any language in India. There is a law which basically says no language will be made the National Language unless and until all the constituent states of the Union of India accept it. Out of the 28 states and 7 union territories, only 10 states and 3 union territories have Hindi as the principal official language.
As drafted in the constitution in 1950, English ceased to exist as an
official language (on par with Hindi) in 1965, after which it was intended to continue as an "associate additional official language" until such time that a duly appointed committee can decide on a full-scale transition to Hindi, based on a periodic review. However, due to protests from South Indian states where there is low Hindi penetration, the "twin language" system is still in vogue. Due to rapid
industrialization, and a bustling multinational influence in the economy, English continues to be a popular and influential means of communication in the government and day-to-day business, and moves to replace it have effectively been shelved.
Two languages are the languages used by the central administration:#
Hindi is the language used by the Central Government when communicating with the states of Hindi Belt. It is also the official language of
Arunachal Pradesh,
Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Bihar,
Chandigarh,
Chhattisgarh,
Delhi,
Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh,
Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal.#
English is also an official language and the language to be used while communicating with the states.
Apart from Hindi and English, a total of 21 other languages are recognized as official languages by the
Constitution of India:#
Assamese â€" official language of
Assam#
Bengali â€" official language of
Tripura and
West Bengal#
Bodo â€" official language of
Assam#
Dogri â€" official language of
Jammu and Kashmir#
Gujarati â€" official language of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
Daman and Diu and
Gujarat#
Kannada â€" official language of
Karnataka#
Kashmiri â€" official language of
Jammu and Kashmir#
Konkani â€" official language of
Goa#
Malayalam â€" official language of
Kerala,
Lakshadweep,
Pondicherry#
Maithili - official language of
Bihar#
Manipuri or
Meithei â€" official language of
Manipur#
Marathi â€" official language of
Maharashtra#
Nepali â€" official language of
Sikkim#
Oriya â€" official language of
Orissa#
Punjabi â€" official language of
Punjab and
Chandigarh, second official language of
Delhi and
Haryana#
Sanskrit â€" language of
Hinduism,
Jainism and
Buddhism, required teaching in many schools#
Santali - language of the
Santhal tribals of the
Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of
Jharkhand,
Bihar,
Orissa and
Chattisgarh)#
Sindhi - language of the
Sindhi community#
Tamil â€" official language of
Tamil Nadu and
Pondicherry#
Telugu â€" official language of
Andhra Pradesh#
Urdu â€" official language of
Jammu and Kashmir,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi and
Uttar PradeshThese languages are state official languages but are not yet recognized as national languages:#
Kokborok - official language of
Tripura#
Mizo - official language of
Mizoram#
Khasi - official language of
Meghalaya#
Garo - official language of
MeghalayaThese languages have over 5 million speakers but no official status. Many are often considered sub-varieties of
Hindi.
Bihari languages
These three Bihari languages also have over 5 million speakers but no official status. They were once mistakenly thought to be dialects of
Hindi, but have been more recently shown to be part of the
Eastern Group of
Indic languages, along with
Bengali,
Assamese, and
Oriya.#
Angika â€" language of
Bihar, Spoken largely in the Northern and Southern part of Bihar, Major part of Jharkhand and Maldah district of
West Bengal#
Bhojpuri â€" language of
Bihar#
Magadhi â€" language of southern
BiharRajasthani languages
Rajasthani dilect is spoken in state of Rajasthan by more than fifty million people, the dialect changes from district to district but people can communicate with each other even if they are from different districts and have different dialects. The main varieties are as such:#
Marwari â€" language of
Marwar. The region including Jodhpur, Nagour and Bikaner.#
Mewari â€" language of
Mewar. The region including Udaipur, Chittor and Kota-Bundi.#
Shekhavati â€" language of
Shekhavati. The region including Sikar, Churu, Jhunjhunu.
Other languages
#
Haryanvi - Hindi dialect of
Haryana#
Bhili (
Bhil tribals)#
Gondi (
Gond tribals)#
Kodava, spoken in the
Kodagu district of
Karnataka#
Kutchi â€" language of
Kutch, a region in
Gujarat#
Tulu â€" spoken by
Tulu people of
Karnataka and
Kerala#
Sankethi â€" spoken by
Sankethi people in
Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and
KeralaThe Constitution of India lists 18 regional languages.
These languages have fewer than one million speakers:#
Mahl â€" language of
Minicoy, spoken in the island of
Minicoy.
*
List of Indian languages by total speakers*
Languages of India*
Department of Official Language (DOL) – Official webpage explains the chronological events related to
Official Languages Act and amendments
*
Central Institute of Indian Languages – A comprehensive federal government site that offers complete info on Indian Languages
*
Official List of Languages *
Ethnologue – Ethnologue report on the languages of India
*
TDIL-MCIT,GoI – Technology Development for Indian Languages, Government of India
